


The Summer before High School

by CA_Babs



Category: Glee
Genre: Fluffy fic, Friends to more, Kid Fic, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-09
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1287109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CA_Babs/pseuds/CA_Babs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman spent the summer between middle school and high school.  </p>
<p>Inspired by http://ca-babs.tumblr.com/post/78917250283/pinn-extended-weekend.<br/>For the Pinn Extended Weekend on Tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Summer before High School

The summer between middle school and high school had been nothing short of awesome as far as Finn was concerned. He and Puck had spent the whole summer together, hanging out, and Finn hadn’t needed to tell Puck specifically he really didn’t want to think about or talk about high school. They’d both heard the stories about what happens to Freshmen, and how your place in the school order by the end freshman year would pretty much cement your place for the following three years. They’d even heard of kids, like them, at the top of the middle school heap, who had gotten lost in the shuffle, or worse, had slid down the social ladder and hadn’t been able to climb back up. 

Instead, Finn and Puck had passed their days skateboarding at the skatepark, or biking through the woods on the outskirts of town, until their knees and elbows were scraped and bloodied. If the weather was too warm, they’d stay near the Hudson house, playing twenty one in the driveway, or bike over to the pool. Some days they’d hang out at one of the parks with a football, trying to keep their skills fresh so they’d be prepared for the high school football training camp before school started. Finn knew that if they could make the team, even junior varsity, it would be better than not making the team. Grass stained knees, pants or shorts, was a good indication of just how awesome a day they’d had.

Sometimes, especially at the park or the pool, some of the girls in their grade would come and hang around Finn and Puck. Most of them were really pretty and kind of nice, and Puck always liked to talk about how the girls looked once they were alone. Finn liked the short shorts some of the girls would wear, or the tops with thin little straps over their shoulders that often showed their bra straps too. The best part about the pool though was the bathing suits; especially the girls in the two piece suits. Sometimes Finn felt almost dizzy just looking at some of the girls at the pool. And he’d have trouble breathing when they’d come up to him and Puck, asking all nicely if they’d be nice enough to help put sunscreen on their backs and their shoulders and the backs of their legs. 

Finn really didn’t like sunscreen though. Some of them smelt nice enough, but they were always so gooey and slimy. Instead of getting to touch, what often looked like, the softest skin, Finn’s hands slid through the goop and over the now slick skin. And no matter how many times he wiped his hands on his board shorts, they were still greasy for hours, even after being in the pool because of course everyone used waterproof sunscreen at the pool. The girls would often turn and press a thank you kiss to their cheeks though, and that was pretty cool. 

The other great thing about summer was the abundance of opportunities for sleepovers and camp outs in Finn’s back yard. They had barely been two weeks into the summer when Finn’s mom and Puck’s mom had sat the boys down separately and told them they were expected to spend at least two nights a week at their respective homes, alone. Most weeks, they actually would take three nights if for no other reason than just to get a good nights sleep and to have a shower that was more shower then just getting wet. Sleepovers were awesome though; the two of them squished into one little bed, or sprawled on the floor (or the ground), next to each other. Finn loved staying up late, watching horror movies, and eating junk food. He liked the silly conversations he and Puck had; like what superhero power they would each want and who was the best villain of all time. 

Another thing that had progressed during the summer was the girls. In addition to the sunscreen and thank you kisses, some of the girls liked to ask Puck and Finn to walk them home or if they wanted to go for ice cream. The first time a girl had asked Finn if he wanted to go for ice cream he’d been super excited, because ice cream during the summer was just the best; until he realized that the girls often expected Finn to pay for the ice cream. That made the ice cream less awesome. But when the girls would stand on their front steps, and reach up on their tiptoes to press their lips chastely against Finn’s, he’d forget his disappointment over having to pay for two ice creams. But, like getting to touch the soft skin of the girls when applying sunscreen at the pool, front door kisses were not exactly all Finn had been anticipating. 

~~~

The night before football camp started found Finn and Puck crashing early in Finn’s bedroom. Since the camp started so early in the morning, both Finn’s mom and Puck’s mom had agreed it would make more sense for the boys to stay together. Then one of them would drop the boys off in the morning, while the other made time in her schedule to pick them up in the afternoon. 

“I know you’re worried,” Puck said. “But it’s going to be ok. We’ve been practicing all summer, and we were pretty good before.”

“We were middle school good, Puck,” Finn said. “What if middle school good isn’t good enough for high school?”

Puck shrugged. “I happen to think we are high school good too, but, I also have a plan, just in case.” Puck smirked at Finn. “Wanna hear it?”

“How much trouble is this plan going to get us into?” Finn asked, eyeing his friend suspiciously. 

“You, probably not so much,” Puck admitted. “But for me, there are definite possibilities for trouble.”

“Ok, hit me.”

“I know you’re sensitive about your height,” Puck said softly. “But this is going to work to our advantage I think. You’re going to be the tallest freshman. You’re probably even taller than some sophomores and maybe even any shrimpy juniors. If you just walk around like you own the place, with confidence, people might assume you are a sophomore or even a junior.”

“No way!” Finn exclaimed, shaking his head. “No one is going to think I’m a junior.” He looked at Puck. “I might be able to pull off sophomore though. But how can I walk around like I own the place when I don’t even know where anything is? Remember how I kept getting lost during the orientation day in the spring.”

“We’ll get you a map, and you’ll memorize it,” Puck suggested. “Or if you get lost, just make it seem like you did it on purpose, like you don’t care where you’re going.”

“I don’t know Puck,” Finn said. “Do you think I can pull this off?”

“Totally.” Puck nodded his head at Finn.

“What about you?” Finn asked. 

“Well,” Puck started, looking at Finn. “I’m going to need your help with something.” Puck dug around in his backpack until he pulled out the clippers his mother had been using to trim his hair and keep it short and neat since Puck had told her he didn’t like the curls he’d worn as a boy. “I want you to help me shave my head.”

Finn’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Dude, no! I’m going to get in so much trouble.”

“Nah, it’s all my idea,” Puck said. “No one will even need to know you helped. I’m just not sure I can get it all even and shit.”

Finn reached out and touched the short hair on Puck’s head. “You’re going to get rid of all of it? Be bald like some old dude?”

Puck shook his head quickly. “I was thinking about trying out a mohawk; that’s bad ass right?”

“Sure, I guess,” Finn shrugged. “Just, aren’t the girls going to be afraid of you or something?”

“I don’t know,” Puck said. “Some girls like bad boys, Finn. The dads might not like me so much, but, ask me if I really care.”

Finn laughed. “Ok, if you’re sure, I’ll help you.”

“Awesome,” Puck said, smiling at Finn.

~~~

After the week-long football camp, Finn and Puck were stretched out in their sleeping bags, one last night of sleeping in a tent in Finn’s back yard. It was dark, save one flashlight they had tied to the top supports of the tent. Football camp had been hard and intense, and despite the stiff, sore muscles from the first few days, Finn was feeling pretty optimistic about their chances of making the team. Finn didn’t know if Puck was right about the school at large, but when it had come to the other guys on and trying out for the football team, Finn was one of the tallest. Even taller than a couple of seniors. And the coach too had mistaken Finn for a sophomore or junior transfer and not a new freshman. It made Finn think that maybe Puck’s plan had a shot. 

“I’d say we’re at least on the JV man,” Puck said excitedly. “And did you see the cheerleaders? How awesome is this going to be. Even if we have to ride the bench freshman year, we can look at the cheerleaders.”

“Yeah,” Finn said softly. “A couple of them were cute.” 

“This year is going to be great,” Puck said. “I can feel it. We’re going to get so much action.”

Finn felt his face flush as he thought back to earlier that night. “Yeah, we probably are. I mean that kiss at the door with Wendy tonight; that was way more kiss than I’m used to.”

Puck tilted his head and looked at Finn. “What do you mean?”

“She opened her mouth dude,” Finn whispered. “It was an open mouth kiss.”

“You’ve never…?” Puck asked.

“Not before then,” Finn said. “Have you?”

Puck grinned, large and wide. “Of course I have.”

“Oh,” Finn sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you warn me about this? I don’t think I did it very well.”

“No?” Puck asked. “What makes you think you didn’t do it right?”

“I don’t know,” Finn said. “I just wasn’t expecting it. And she tasted all clean and minty. We’d just had ice cream. She had cookies and cream; shouldn’t she have tasted like cookies and cream?”

“That’s girls,” Puck shrugged. “They like to be all clean and fresh all the time. She probably popped in a mint or a piece of gum while we were walking back from the ice cream parlor. “

“I didn’t notice any gum in her mouth,” Finn said. “It must have been a mint. Should I have done that too? I mean I probably tasted like the wild cherry ice cream I had.”

“Dude,” Puck snorted, “wild cherry is amazing. So much better than mint.”

“Yeah,” Finn said, nodding his head. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s like the lip gloss thing I guess. I mean sure it makes their lips look all shiny and nice and makes me notice them and want to kiss them. And some of the kinds smell good too, but that shit tastes bad.” Finn wiped the back of his hand across his lips in memory. “And I somehow think that asking girls to wipe it off before I kiss them is not a good idea.”

“Definitely not a good idea,” Puck agreed. 

“Maybe I just need to find a girl that doesn’t wear lip gloss,” Finn said. “Or at least one who wears one that tastes decent.”

“You do know you’re not supposed to eat it right?” Puck joked.

“Of course dude,” Finn scoffed. “But it gets on my lips too and then I lick them and bleh, so gross.”

Puck turned onto his side, supporting his head with his hand and looking at Finn. Finn did the same, because it was nice to look at the person you were talking to, you know.

“Hey, did Jennifer complain about your hands when we were walking back?” Finn asked. “‘Cause Wendy did. First she asked why my hands were all sweaty and then after I wiped them on my pants, she told me I should use some lotion on them because they’re all rough and calloused.”

“Wait- what?” Puck asked. 

“She complained about my hands,” Finn said. “I can’t help that my hands are rough. Some of it is from football and the weight room you know. And some of it is from playing the drums. You don’t think she’d want me to stop that do you?”

“She’d be stupid if she did,” Puck said. He sat up cross-legged on top of his sleeping bag. “And no girl has ever said anything about my hands, so, I don’t know. Maybe mine are nicer? Let me see yours?”

Finn struggled to sit up and not hit his head on the top of the tent. Then he thrust his hands into Puck’s face who looked at them carefully, reaching up to adjust the flashlight a little.. 

“They seem ok to me dude,” Puck said. He took one of Finn’s hands into both of his, feeling it allover.

“Oh,” Finn whispered. “Your hands are kinda soft dude.”

“Uh, I can maybe see what Wendy was saying,” Puck said, not letting go of Finn’s hands. “But I like it. It’s like a map. And I bet I can tell what the callouses are from, because of how different they feel and where they are.”

“Really?” Finn asked, his voice still a whisper. 

“Sure,” Puck said. He stroked over the side of Finn’s index finger,”drumsticks.” 

Finn nodded, smiling at Puck in the soft light of the flashlight. Finn reached out with his other hand and covered Puck’s. “You don’t wear lip gloss,” he said softly, leaning in and pressing his lips against Puck’s softly. 

Finn didn’t know what he expected Puck to do, probably to push him away and yell at him. But Puck opening his mouth to Finn, his tongue thrusting into Finn’s own mouth, had not been something he’d expected. His eyes widened in shock and then he closed them, bringing his hands up to hold Puck’s face in place. 

Puck’s lips were firmer, and a little chapped, compared to the girls Finn had kissed, but his lips were not slimy and gross tasting with gloss. Plus Puck’s mouth tasted awesome. Forget mint or gum, Puck tasted like the junk food they’d been snacking on all night; sour patch kids, root beer, and sour cream and onion chips. Underneath that, Finn could taste a little of cappuccino ice cream he’d had at the ice cream shop and the bacon double cheeseburgers they’d had after football camp. 

Even when Puck pulled his lips away from Finn’s, Finn held his head tight, resting his forehead against Puck’s. They shared breaths as they regained a more normal pattern of breathing, and Finn tried to slow the erratic thumping of his heart. 

“I don’t think you have to worry about your skills,” Puck said softly. “That was pretty good.”

“Yeah?” Finn said. “ ‘Cause Dude, you taste amazing. Way better than some chick with her gum and mints and sticky gloss.”


End file.
